62 THE GRAND DUKE CONSTANTINE 



family? What I was ? What I intended doing? Where I was 

 going ? What brought me to Warsaw ? and a variety of other 

 questions of the same bearing. I answered as quickly and shortly as 

 1 could, consistent with due respect; but he did not give me time to 

 stand upon petty ceremonies, or even to make those statements which 

 had been the object of my visit ; for, having finished his category 

 without affording' me the slightest opening to commence an inde- 

 pendent sentence, he strode off to examine the trowser-straps, but- 

 tons, mustachios, and general equipment of the recruits at the back 

 of the room. This inspection concluded, and a few orders given to 

 the officers in attendance, we were dismissed without further parley ; 

 and, as I accompanied Sass back in his carriage, I said confidently 

 enough that I presumed there would be no further delay about my 

 passport ; but the meaning and silent smile which crossed his lips, 

 although I did not then interpret it in its true sense, was a sinister 

 enough augury of what I might expect. Yes day passed after 

 day, and weeks enlarged themselves into months before the passport 

 I had so Jong and vainly expected was placed in my hands. It was 

 only afterwards that I was made aware that every passport passed 

 under the eyes of the Grand Duke himself, and that every foreigner 

 who might be merely journeying through Warsaw was either re- 

 quired by command, or induced under some specious pretext, to pre- 

 sent himself to his Imperial Highness; and he himself, taking the 

 office of political inquisitor into his own hands, catechized the new 

 comer as to his life, habits, education, and intentions ; and should he 

 be unfortunate enough to please, he was likely, ban gre mal gre, and 

 almost without being aware, to find himself tricked out one fine 

 morning in all the trappings, lacings, and paddings of a Russian 

 uniform. Nor was this all ; for once encased in this dress, adieu to 

 home, country, and friends for the best and most active portion of 

 his natural life. If, too, the unfortunate stranger should have been 

 suspected of entertaining liberal opinions, (it was enough that he 

 should be supposed to have come direct from France) he immediately 

 became an object of the secret attentions of the Grand Duke's go- 

 vernment : every step was dodged ; every motion watched, and every 

 word or opinion uttered by the supposed delinquent carefully regis- 

 tered and reported. Indeed the system of espionage in Warsaw was 

 carried to an extent perfectly wonderful perfectly diabolical at 

 the expense too of every natural and social tie : each class, each 

 grade, each department of the State had its overseeing spies ; some 

 of whom I believe were the authorised agents of the Russian go- 

 vernment, but by far the greater proportion, and particularly that 

 department of the system to which I and persons in my situation 

 became amenable, was an especial and private freak of the Grand 

 Duke's, perfectly unauthorised by the Emperor, unwarranted by the 

 government, and unknown to, or at least unacknowledged by, the 

 public. In short, it was a little stretch of his prerogative, if that 

 term could be applied to the powers of one, who, simply commander 

 of the forces in Warsaw, had, in defiance of the constitution, the 

 laws, and the oath of the Emperor, arrogated to himself in fact, 

 usurped the whole of the executive power. The constitution which 



